Editorial: Being our brother’s keeper

When the biblical character Cain was asked by God about the whereabouts of his sibling, Abel, he replied “I know not; am I my brother's keeper?”. At that time, Cain was feeling guilty, having already murdered his brother.

Fast forward thousands of years into the future and the Cayman Islands is showing that unlike Cain, it is indeed looking out for its brothers and sisters.

Long a friend of neighbouring countries, the team running the administration of these Islands displayed true “Caymankindness” when, after having received a helping hand to procure test kits for the deadly Coronavirus virus, has been helping Caribbean brothers and sisters acquire the same.

Bermuda, Barbados, and others including Belize, Jamaica and St Lucia have reached out and either received or are working out the details of how to move forward with accessing some of the excess kits the Cayman Islands Government recently bought from South Korea.

Although this is not a case of gifting, as these are being sold “at cost”, this is still a noble gesture, as reports are that the Cayman Islands has in excess of what is required for testing the local population. However, the gymnastics and sweet talk involved in sealing the deal to get the kits proved this was not an easy task. Small Caribbean countries can very easily be left behind as the world rushes to get such a hot commodity.

However, we are trusting that while Premier Alden McLaughlin and his team are lending a helping a hand, they have not miscalculated their stocks and will not run out any time soon.

Here’s to being your brother’s keeper; and here’s to showing our Caribbean neighbours what Caymankind is all about.